A critical review of past studies on China’s corrections and recidivism

Abstract

This article reviews studies of China's correctional system and recidivism in approximately the last two decades. Studies on the Chinese correctional system may be grouped into two subfields, one on studies of the correctional system itself (e.g., the composition and the function of the system), and the other on studies of prison inmates in other related topics (e.g., their criminal behavior). Studies on China's recidivism showed a very low recidivism rate, and China's crime prevention strategies were closely related to its societal structure and social control. Future studies in these two areas need to focus on the most recent changes in the Chinese criminal justice system, and gain more access to Chinese prisons to do empirical testing.

Prison Inmates’ Suicidal Ideation in China: A Study of Gender Differences and Their Impact

“…In this study, we focus on gender difference and impact among Chinese prison inmates on their suicidal ideation. Conducting scientific research on China's prisons and prisoners has proved very difficult given the nature of the Chinese political and legal systems (e.g., Liang & Wilson, 2008). Studying inmates' suicide and suicidal ideation is no exception, and no such studies have been noted so far.…”

Unresolvable Tensions and Ethical Dilemmas: Reflections on the Experience of Doing “Prison Research” in China—A Research Note

“…In many ways, even in the contemporary academic world, Chinese prisons remain a more obscure and poorly understood world than was the Forbidden City among the common folk in pre-modern times (Williams, 2006). People from outside China know Chinese prisons, first, through the writings of some political dissidents 3 during the Cultural Revolution who exposed the “dark side” of the system and sometimes compared it to the Soviet gulag or to Nazi concentration camps (Liang & Wilson, 2008, p. 246). Criticism outside China often targets human rights, political dissidence, religious practice, and forced labor in Chinese prisons (Shaw, 2010).…”

“…Indeed, research is often used for dramatic effect where “claims are advanced in the media that a particular phenomenon should be recognized as a social problem” (Lee, 1993, p. 196) and consequently, in the case in point, may become added evidence of the inhumane nature of the prison regime. As Liang and Wilson (2008) suggested, it is simply not true, and is even misleading, to perceive China’s current prison system through the lens of what was reported as happening in the 1950s and 1960s. This can be seen in the words of Button (1996), who argued regarding Harry Wu’s case,Although the writings of Harry Wu have exposed much of the brutality of the Chinese penal system as it existed during the time of Mao, and although the evidence he has offered reveals an ongoing system of oppression and exploitation of Chinese dissidents, the United States and the rest of world have failed to act in any meaningful way to curb the abuses.…”

Confidence in the criminal justice system: Differences between citizens and criminal justice officials in China

“…It is also important to note that even less attention has been paid to comparative studies on the Chinese criminal justice (Cao and Hou, 2001; Lambert and Jiang, 2006). Difficulties of doing research in China on these topics include issues related to collecting data, access to existing data, and the sensitivity of topics (Dai, 2008; Liang and Wilson, 2008; Liu, 2008; Lu and Kelly, 2008). In sum, the lack of empirical research and inconsistent findings lead to no firm conclusions about Chinese views on their criminal justice system.…”

“…Compared with western research on this topic, empirical research on public attitudes toward the Chinese criminal justice system is very limited. This may be due to the lack of empirical data from China and the traditional focus on qualitative analysis in legal studies (Dai, 2008; Liang and Wilson, 2008; Lu and Kelly, 2008; Zhang et al, 2008). For example, only a handful of studies have empirically examined citizens’ attitudes toward the police in China (Cao and Hou, 2001; Jiang et al, 2012; Wu and Sun, 2009, 2010; Wu et al, 2011).…”